James Keith Kallstrom (May 6, 1943 – July 3, 2021), a.k.a. Jim Kallstrom, was an American

Federal Bureau of Investigation The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, ...

(FBI) agent who served as assistant director in charge of its field office in New York. He was noted for heading the criminal investigation into the

TWA Flight 800 Trans World Airlines Flight 800 (TWA800) was a Boeing 747-100 that exploded and crashed into the Atlantic Ocean near East Moriches, New York, on July 17, 1996, at about 8:31pm. Eastern Daylight Time, EDT, 12 minutes after takeoff from John F. K ...

crash in 1996.

Early life

Kallstrom was born in

Worcester, Massachusetts Worcester ( , ) is a city and county seat of Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. Named after Worcester, England, the city's population was 206,518 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the second-List of cities i ...

, on May 6, 1943. His father was a

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...

er during the

swing era The swing era (also frequently referred to as the big band era) was the period (1933–1947) when big band swing music was the most popular music in the United States. Though this was its most popular period, the music had actually been aroun ...

and subsequently worked as a car salesman; his mother was employed as a nurse. He studied at the

University of Massachusetts Amherst The University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass Amherst, UMass) is a public research university in Amherst, Massachusetts and the sole public land-grant university in Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Founded in 1863 as an agricultural college, it ...

, obtaining a

Bachelor of Business Administration Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) is a bachelor's degree in business administration awarded by colleges and universities after completion of undergraduate study in the fundamentals of business administration and usually including advanced ...

in 1966. He joined the

US Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through combi ...

that same year, eventually rising to the rank of

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

. He served two tours in the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...

Career

Kallstrom worked for 27 years at the FBI from February 1970 to December 31, 1997 and was described as an expert in wiretapping. During his career, he was a leading advocate of expanding wiretapping power through the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA). He headed the special operations division at the Bureau's field office in New York. He later became assistant director in charge of the office in 1995, a position he held until his retirement two years later. He led the investigation into the 1996 explosion of

. He was also a supervising agent in the New York investigation of the

Cosa Nostra The Sicilian Mafia, also simply known as the Mafia and frequently referred to as Cosa nostra (, ; "our thing") by its members, is an Italian Mafia-terrorist-type organized crime syndicate and criminal society originating in the region of Sicily a ...

criminal network that resulted in the

Mafia Commission Trial The Mafia Commission Trial (in full, ''United States v. Anthony Salerno, et al'') was a criminal trial before the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York in New York City, United States, that lasted from February 25, 19 ...

of 1985–1986. Kallstrom left government work for private sector employment in the financial industry beginning in 1998. After the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercia ...

in 2001, he returned to the public sector to lead New York state's public safety office at the request of

George Pataki George Elmer Pataki (; born June 24, 1945) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 53rd governor of New York from 1995 to 2006. An attorney by profession, Pataki was elected mayor of his hometown of Peekskill, New York, and went on ...

Later life

Kallstrom was the host of the

Discovery Channel Discovery Channel (known as The Discovery Channel from 1985 to 1995, and often referred to as simply Discovery) is an American cable channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, a publicly traded company run by CEO David Zaslav. , Discovery Channe ...

show ''

The FBI Files ''The FBI Files'' is an American television docudrama series that originally ran from 1998 to 2006 on the Discovery Channel and produced by New Dominion Pictures. The show was cancelled in 2006. However, Court TV Mystery, Discovery, and its siste ...

'' until it was cancelled in 2006. He supported

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pe ...

during the

2016 United States presidential election The 2016 United States presidential election was the 58th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 8, 2016. The Republican ticket of businessman Donald Trump and Indiana governor Mike Pence defeated the Democratic ticket ...

and referred to

Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, diplomat, and former lawyer who served as the 67th United States Secretary of State for President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, as a United States sen ...

and the Clinton family as being criminal-like. He was also critical of the

Special Counsel investigation In the United States, a special counsel (formerly called special prosecutor or independent counsel) is a lawyer appointed to Criminal investigation, investigate, and potentially prosecution, prosecute, a particular case of suspected wrongdoing fo ...

Robert Mueller Robert Swan Mueller III (; born August 7, 1944) is an American lawyer and government official who served as the sixth director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) from 2001 to 2013. A graduate of Princeton University and New York ...

, saying in 2018 that it was orchestrated by a

cabal A cabal is a group of people who are united in some close design, usually to promote their private views or interests in an ideology, a state, or another community, often by intrigue and usually unbeknownst to those who are outside their group. Th ...

beyond the scope of the FBI and the intelligence community. He added that he "did not recognize the agency I gave 28 years of my life to".

Personal life

Kallstrom was married to Susan for 50 years until his death. Together, they had two children, Erika and Kristél. Kallstrom died on July 3, 2021, at his home in

Fairfield, Connecticut Fairfield is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. It borders the city of Bridgeport and towns of Trumbull, Easton, Weston, and Westport along the Gold Coast of Connecticut. Located within the New York metropolitan area ...

. He was 78, and suffered from a rare form of

blood cancer Tumors of the hematopoietic and lymphoid tissues (American English) or tumours of the haematopoietic and lymphoid tissues (British English) are tumors that affect the blood, bone marrow, lymph, and lymphatic system. Because these tissues are all ...

prior to his death.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kallstrom, James 1943 births 2021 deaths Deaths from cancer in Connecticut Deaths from blood cancer United States Marine Corps personnel of the Vietnam War Federal Bureau of Investigation executives American people of Swedish descent United States Marine Corps officers Isenberg School of Management alumni University of Massachusetts Amherst alumni People from Worcester, Massachusetts Military personnel from Massachusetts